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Justin Chancellor

I haven’t done a happy birthday post in a while, mostly because I’m lazy. Well, this time around I’m not, and I’m also keen to post something on the site, since actual news is hard to come by! November 19 is Justin Chancellor‘s birthday! Not sure how he’s celebrating the day, but I’m sure many of us would be happy for he to have a day off from making the new album.

Just one day though…

To celebrate, here’s one of my favorite JC clips, some footage captured by Al Jones a few years back where we get to hear his excellent bass tone during Parabola.

Tool seem to be back working hard in the studio, with an update from Justin showing up his rig in the studio, as well as a quick Instagram post from Adam:

Justin sent me this photo with a caption: “Bass… How low can you go?” In speaking with him, he told me that he was making great progress in “a great studio.” He also told me how much fun he had at the recent Tool clinics and how impressed he was by many of the questions and comments from the band’s knowledgeable fans.

In other exciting news, Maynard James Keenan was recently given a Icon Award at the Metal Hammer Golden God Awards:

Maynard James Keenan received the Icon Award at last night’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods’ ceremony.

The award was presented to Keenan by Daniel P. Carter, host of BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show, recognizing a lifetime of contributions to heavy music, with past lifetime achievement winners including Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Lemmy and Alice in Chains. Keenan was celebrated for his work with his trio of bands: A Perfect Circle, Puscifer and Tool.

A much deserved award. Of interest to fans of the great man, he was quoted during his acceptance speech as saying “a lot of works being done, a lot of works been done. I’ll go on record now as saying you’re going to see some new music next year“. It seems somewhat clear to me he’s referring to Tool, but maybe some new Puscifer material could be on the cards. We’ll see in 2019!

The making of Justin’s Warwick Bass

There’s a new video from Warwick, which gives some visual insight into how his custom bass was create. No, it’s not a Wal. No, Justin is not about to give up playing his Wal.

Stream Yob’s “Our Raw Heart”

Yob are a doom metal band quite popular with Tool and their fanbase, and later this week they have a new album out called Our Raw Heart. It’s currently streaming on NPR, so check it out!

A Perfect Circle continue across Europe

A Perfect Circle are partway through the European leg of their Eat The Elephant tour. There are still plenty more chances to see them until the end of this month. I was lucky enough to catch a pro-shot show from the Rock Am Ring Festival, and the band sounds great (it’s out there for those interested, though not on Youtube).

Some of you who went for the box set of Eat the Elephant would have enjoyed the little hologram widget thing they released with it. For those curious, a 2D version of this clip for TalkTalk is now on Youtube:

The Pieces Fit – Tool’s Cult of Meaning

Trevor Quirk from The Point has written an interesting essay on Tool entitled the Cult of Meaning. Those of you interested in some deeper meanings behind Tool might be interested in taking a look

Albums of the week

Baptists are a hardcore punk band out of Vancouver, Canada. They put out a great new album just a couple of weeks ago called Beacon of Faith:

Djent! Metalcore! Out of place capital letters! I can hear the groans now! Despite that, TesseracT have headed doing a more progressive path of late, and it’s one I enjoy. Their new album Sonder is a great listen.

One of the best and heaviest albums I’ve heard this year comes from a crew from New Zealand called Null Apostle. Their album Bridge Burner has everything you need to scratch that death/grindcore itch…

Second band from New Zealand this time around, this time on a slightly different noise scale to Null Apostle. Wax Chattels do a cool brand of post-punk, and their recent self titled album is one I’ve thoroughly enjoyed!

Without a full tour to support them, it seems Tool are taking their VIP show on the road. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday the 13th, with a Toolarmy pre-sale kicking off on the 11th. Rumour is that tickets are $500, which I expect will raise a few eyebrows.

A SERIES OF INTIMATE DISCUSSIONS TAKE FANS BEHIND-THE-SCENES INTO THE INNER WORKINGS OF ONE OF ROCK MUSIC’S MOST MYSTERIOUS BANDS

April 9, 2018, LOS ANGELES – Tool, one of rock music’s most mysterious and speculated about bands, give fans a rare glimpse behind-the-scenes via a series of intimate music clinics.

The discussions include drummer Danny Carey, bass player Justin Chancellor and guitar player Adam Jones walking attendees through a handful of the band’s songs, from the process of writing them to playing them live. Audience members are encouraged to ask questions via an open discussion, as well as mingle with the band following the session.

Ticket holders will receive commemorative merchandise, exclusive to the series of events and limited to the number of people in attendance. An accompanying, traveling exhibit will be on display at each event, featuring unique items from Tool’s history.

May 11 St. Paul, MN Myth Live Event Center

May 14 Chicago, IL The Vic Theatre

May 15 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian Room at Old National

May 16 Royal Oak (Detroit), MI Royal Oak Music Theatre

May 17 Columbus, OH Express Live! Indoor Pavilion

May 19 Cleveland, OH Agora Theatre

Tickets are on-sale this Friday, April 13 at 10 am local via (links). A limited number of tickets have been set aside for Tool Army members, which will be available on Wednesday, April 11 at 10 am pacific via the band’s webstore (http://www.toolband.com/store/music-clinics).

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the limited number of tickets that will be available for the pre-sale, TOOL ARMY MEMBERS who are interested in attending the clinic are urged to act quickly (On WEDNESDAY, APRIL, 11 at 10:00 am PDT) to secure a spot for this unique Tool experience.

It’s time for another weekly update from our irregular schedule. I’ve skipped the last few, due to the relative frequency of Tool news lately, with both Adam and Danny indicating in recent weeks that things are happening. I’m sure you’ve all read that before – let’s wait until they actually confirm hitting the studio before getting too excited.

Anyway, in this weeks issue:

Justin plays some riffs at NAMM

Danny plays a huge gong at NAMM

Justin plays on new Glaca track Oni Przyszli

Danny upcoming gigs

Albums of the last few weeks: Anvil, Chelsea Wolfe, Corrosion of Conformity

Justin plays some riffs at NAMM

NAMM is the worlds biggest music trade show (I think) where pretty much all the big time manufacturers show off their latest gizmos. Justin Chancellor dropped into the Warwick/Framus booth, to play some sweet riffs on his custom axe. Maybe some of these will appear on the new album?

Danny plays a huge gong at NAMM

Not to be outdone, NAMM regular Danny Carey played a massive gong in the Paiste booth.

Justin plays on new Glaca track Oni Przyszli

In other Justin news, he contributes to the track Oni Przyszli by Polish band Glaca. I believe this band is fronted by the same guy he worked on with m.t.Void. The vocals are somewhat of an acquired taste, to put it mildy. Enjoy it if you can!

Danny upcoming gigs

Danny has a couple of upcoming shows at in LA. Worth checking out if you’re in town:

with the Charette Group at the Baked Potato on January 31st

with Doug Webb at Squashed Grapes in Ventura on February 3rd

Albums of the last few weeks

It’s a slow time of year for album releases, but here’s a few things I’ve enjoyed in the last few weeks:

Anvil – Pounding the Pavement: Canadian heavy metal act Anvil were the subject of a popular documentary a few years back, and while their music is pretty cliched, I found their latest album to be reasonably enjoyable.

Long time no news! Updating weekly appears to be a weak point of mine, but here’s the latest and greatest. Highlights include:

Justin’s Goblin Master bit at Primus shows

Daily Grail discuss the importance of Occult Rock

A Perfect Circle release video for The Doomed

Tool Newsletters: Still a thing!

Albums of the last few weeks: Godflesh, Converge, Polaris, Merchant

Oh and in case you missed it, Adam said Tool have re-recorded Opiate. We all knew this already though right? I think it was recorded back in 2015 when the guys from Motorhead filmed Tool in the studio.

Justin as the Goblin Master

We all know that Justin featured on the new Primus album as the Goblin Master, but you may not know that Justin also plays this part in their live shows, albeit in video form. For your enjoyment:

Occult Rock: The Influence of Magick in Modern Rock

Magic with a K is of great importance, and this article from the Daily Grail goes into a bit of history being the occult in modern rock. It’s got quite a bit on Tool, so worth a read. It’s got some good photos of the talismanic boards often present at Tool shows.

A Perfect Circle released The Doomed video

Here it is!

Tool Newsletters: Still a thing!

Blair says that Newsletters are still being written, and hopefully one day published!

Q: What happened to the Tool newsletters?

A: Having first made sure that all of the archived newsletters were recovered during the transfer (initially I had some doubt), I have been checking on the progress of getting them posted ever since. Recently, the earliest ones (going back to 2000) began to appear on the back end – at which time I was informed that the delay in getting the rest of them up is due to the developers having to import and edit all them manually as a result of the code that our old webmaster used. Soon (again, according to the folks at Full Screen Direct) they will be displayed and archived in a separate section. Once this is done, I will also add the newer ones that I have been writing (every month) but not posting until there is a dedicated area. Thank you for your patience.

Albums of the last few weeks!

Aussie doom band Merchant put out a stellar release last week. If Yob is your thing, check this out!Beneath by Merchant

Godflesh are a favorite of mine, and have a new album out this week called Post Self. It’s not bad and worth a listen…

Converge are one of the best modern punk bands around, especially if you’re in the the heavier subgenres. The Dusk In Us is another great addition to their discography.

Another Aussie band, this time Polaris put out a good if somewhat forumlaic progressive metal album called The Mortal Coil.The Mortal Coil by Polaris

Albums of the Week

These guys are one of the best punk bands going around and have been a favorite of mine for many years. This album is probably some way off their best, but still worth a listen if political punk is your thing

Danny Carey Toolbox Elements shirt

DANNY’S new “TOOLBOX ELEMENTS” tee shirt is based on his custom built PLAN B (Electro-Acoustic Research) modular synthesizer – a masterwork of electronics created by Peter Grenader. The controls of the various synth modules are glimpsed while superimposed on the nine-sided geometry (NONAGON) that embellishes the purplish casing of the ToolBox performance system in polished plasma cut aluminum designed by Chas Smith. Fashioned according to Danny’s specifications, the center of the Nonagon also features “EYE OF HORUS” controls.

Justin + Crystal Method

We’re reported before that Justin has worked with the Crystal Method, and looks like one of their tracks will be featured on the soundtrack for the documentary Hired Gun.

“We Miss Cliff” featuring Justin Chancellor: Loved what Justin did for the Cliff Burton piece lot of pressure was put on Scott as we used Metallica’s “Orion” as temp music…What Scott delivered was chilling and absolutely perfect!

“Being a fan of music documentaries, I jumped at the opportunity to view an early cut of Hired Gun. Fran’s a great story teller so it didn’t take me long to realize I wanted to be a part of this project,” shares Scott Kirkland. “The scene that immediately spoke to me was Rudy Sarzo’s retelling of that tragic day in March of 1982 when the world lost Randy Rhodes. I became a kid again, staring at the family’s 20″ Magnavox TV in shock, as an awkward reporter with an MTV hat told the world he was gone. I stopped everything and started writing and from that initial demo I got the gig. This project allowed me to explore so many different genres and emotions that I found it to be so creatively stimulating. The night before the entire score was due they sent me the Cliff Burton scene. So I asked my mate Justin Chancellor to stop by after rehearsal and watch it with me because I knew he like myself and so many others worshiped Cliff. Justin is so brilliant and plays with his heart. I’m thrilled that my good friend Tobias Enhus was able to join me and couldn’t be prouder of our contribution to this awesome project.”

The Haunted Swordsman

Adam has endorsed a Kickstarter project but former Stan Winston Studio buddy Kevin McTurk called the Haunted Swordsman:

Carina Round has a baby!

Congratulations to Puscifer member Carina Round, who recently gave birth!

Things are moving so slowly in Tool land at the moment, I’ve run out of material (and motivation) for regular posts. So while Tool are in stealth mode (likely for the rest of the year I expect) rather than bombarding you with with stuff that is only somewhat interesting, I’ll do a weekly update. This update will include Tool related stuff, relevant side projects, and even a few updates from bands that have supported Tool, or I feel would generally interest Fourtheye readers.